Tag Archives: Kenneth King

The Bayside man exonerated by DNA after being wrongfully jailed for almost nine months is suing the city for more than $133 million, his lawyer said.

Kenneth King was charged with the attempted rape and sex abuse of a woman in Whitestone in September 2011.

The early morning attack along the Cross Island Parkway near 148th Street was foiled by former marine Bryan Teichman, who spooked the assailant and who later hesitantly picked King out of a lineup, according to the complaint filed against the city.

“I hope to God I am making the right choice,” the complaint shows him saying. “I think it’s #2.”

King was released last June from Rikers Island, where he spent most of his imprisonment, after DNA retrieved from the victim’s sweater did not match his, said defense attorney Scott Dufault. His case was dismissed a month later.

The free man is now suing the city for “negligently and intentionally” depriving him of his Constitutional rights, the complaint says. He is seeking monetary compensation from lost pay, attorney fees, physical injuries and emotional distress.

The defendants listed in the suit include the city’s Department of Corrections, the Queens district attorney’s office, the NYPD and its Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Dufault told The Courier last year that King is struggling to get back to his former life after losing his job as a plumber’s assistant while he was locked up.

He also suffers from severe back and leg pain and numbness in his arm from mistreatment at Rikers, the complaint says.

The victim never identified King herself, the lawsuit says, and the description she gave of the perp’s eyes and hair color did not match King’s. The DNA test was also done six months after the attack, though defense attorneys say they requested it be taken immediately.

The city’s law department declined to comment as it awaits a formal copy of the complaint, a spokesperson said.

A Queens man locked up for nine months on charges of attempted rape and sex abuse has been exonerated after DNA retrieved from the victim’s sweater did not match up to his, a defense attorney said.

Kenneth King, 41, was arrested last September for the attempted rape and sex abuse of a woman who was thrown over a guardrail along the Cross Island Parkway near 148th Street in Whitestone.

The early morning attack was foiled by former Marine Bryan Teichman, 31, who sprinted over to the struggle and scared off a man who was on top of the victim with his hand over her mouth. Teichman said the suspect was pushing her head into the dirt while tearing at her clothes.

King spent almost one year behind bars at Rikers Island for the crime after an eyewitness identified him in a photo lineup. But the case was strewn with deficiencies, said King’s lawyer Scott Dufault.

The perpetrator was described in police reports in March as having blue eyes and light hair with salt and pepper streaks on the top of his head and in his beard, Dufault said. But King, he said, has hazel eyes and dark brown hair.

Dufault said the eyewitness who identified King in the lineup also kept choosing another individual out of six possible suspects.

“That wasn’t too impressive as an identification,” Dufault said, adding that the victim never identified King herself.

The case against King was dismissed on July 10 after DNA test results cleared him of the crime, Dufault said.

King was released soon after, but Dufault said the wrongly accused suspect is struggling to get back to his former life after losing his job as a plumber’s assistant, a position he held for 13 years.

His grandmother also entered a nursing home during the nine months he was gone.

“That was difficult,” Dufault said. “He was her primary caregiver.”

Police said the investigation to find the perp responsible is ongoing.

The Queens District Attorney’s office said the case was sealed and did not disclose further information.

While dropping off his daughter at his babysitter’s house in Whitestone at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, September 27, Bryan Teichman – a former marine and current engineering student at Nassau Community College – heard something that sounded like a muffled scream. Upon looking out a window facing the Cross Island Parkway near 148th Street, he saw a panicked woman being thrown over a guardrail.

“That’s when I said to the babysitter, ‘Something’s wrong, call the police. I’m going out there,’ Teichman, 31, told The Courier.

According to Teichman, he jogged over to the struggle and saw the suspect on top of the woman with his hand over her mouth pushing her head into the dirt while tearing at her clothes.

“At that point, I took a second to think,” said Teichman, who has done tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I came up with the deepest yell I could and basically told him to get off her. He took a look at me, looked pretty scared and took off.”

After the suspect fled the scene, Teichman helped the victim – who seemed to be in a state of shock – to her feet and waited with her until police arrived on the scene.

“Within two minutes, the first police car was there. Within 12 minutes, there were five emergency service vehicles, a K-19 unit, and the lieutenant was orchestrating a search. It was impressive to see what the NYPD does,” said Teichman.

After an investigation helped by Teichman – who was able to describe the man – police say they have made an arrest in the attempted rape case.

Kenneth King, 41, was charged with attempted rape and attempted sex abuse on Friday, September 30.

Teichman, a Fresh Meadows resident with a wife and daughter, says that he hopes others would do the same when faced with that sort of extraordinary situation.

“Honestly, there wasn’t much thought. All I did was react to the situation.”